OPEN TEE TIMES AS BIRKDALE’S BALDWIN TO HIT OPENER
Matthew Baldwin, who qualified for The 154th Open at Dundonald Links and is a member of Royal Birkdale, will hit the opening tee shot on Thursday. (Photo: R&A)
Royal Birkdale member Matthew Baldwin will get The 154th Open under way on home soil after being given the honour of the historic opening tee shot.
He follows in the footsteps of Pádraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Matthew Jordan and Justin Leonard who have all signalled the start of the Championship in recent years.
With friends and family watching on, Baldwin will be joined by Thomas Detry and James Nicholas in game one, teeing off at 6.35am.
It will be a special moment for the 40-year-old, who claimed his place at The Open via Final Qualifying at Dundonald Links.
"It's a bit of a dream really," Baldwin said after qualifying. "I get emotional just thinking about it. It will be incredible. I've played Opens at Hoylake and Lytham before, but to do it at my home club in front of my wife, my mum and my family will be amazing.
"For me it's a dream come true."
This year will mark Baldwin’s fourth Open appearance. On his debut at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2012 he produced his best Open result of T23, before going on to compete at Royal Liverpool in 2014 and Royal Portrush in 2019.
Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin gets his Open campaign under way at 8:03am on Thursday alongside Francesco Molinari and amateur Lev Grinberg. Fota Island amateur David Howard sets off at 10:42am alongside Kazuma Kobori and Tom Sloman.
Amateur champion Stuart Grehan is off just after midday at 12:14pm alongside former champion Cameron Smith and Keith Mitchell. Another former winner Darren Clarke tees off at 12:47pm with Adrien Saddier and Bernd Wiesberger.
Harrington, a former winner at Royal Birkdale, is off at 1:20pm along with Marco Penge and Michael Hollick. The 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry is off at 2:53pm with Major winners Aaron Rai and Brooks Keopka.
World number two Rory McIlroy is joined by Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick at 3:15pm in one of the marquee groups on Thursday.
Full tee times for Thursday and Friday are now live. Click on the link at the top of the story.